Bangladesh's Shoriful Islam suffers injury ahead of T20 World Cup opener

Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam suffered an injury during a warm-up match against India in New York on Saturday. 

The left-arm bowler split the webbing between his index and middle fingers on his bowling hand while attempting to stop a drive from Hardik Pandya in the last over of the first innings.

Clearly in pain, Shoriful was promptly attended to by the team's physio, Bayjedul Islam Khan, and later received treatment from the Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) chief physician, Dr. Debashis Chowdhury. Dr. Chowdhury disclosed that Shoriful required six stitches for his injury, which will necessitate further evaluation in two days to determine the extent of his recovery time.

With Bangladesh's first match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 scheduled for June 7 against Sri Lanka in Dallas, Shoriful has a limited window of six days to recuperate.

However, this adds pressure on the team as another key bowler, Taskin Ahmed, is also recovering from a side-strain. If neither Shoriful nor Ahmed regain fitness in time for the Sri Lanka match, Bangladesh will face the challenge of competing without their main bowling assets.

The injury setback comes on the heels of Bangladesh's loss to India in the warm-up game, where Shoriful managed to secure one wicket while conceding 26 runs.